Under the Hood: Mastering the Command Line
Complete reference · 7 chapters · Beginner → Advanced
Incoming transmission
Agent. You need to understand something before we go any further. Franklin Green — IT Systems Administrator at Coastal Data Systems, nine years on the job — got completely owned because he didn't understand the tools his own attackers used. Nine years. Owned in under ten minutes.
The terminal is where this game is played. Not in some polished app with buttons and menus — in a black box with a blinking cursor, where you type exactly what you want the computer to do, and it does it. No hand-holding. No undo button. Just you and the machine.
Every attacker you'll ever face lives here. Every defender worth their salary lives here too. The faster you get comfortable, the harder you are to compromise.
Seven chapters. Start at one. The advanced chapter will still be there when you're ready — I'll know if you skip ahead. Don't be a Franklin.
— Commander Shepard
